DOJ raids US President Biden's beach house for classified documents
A motorcade transports U.S. President Joe Biden to the Delaware Air National Guard Base in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., Jan. 30, 2023. (Reuters File Photo)


U.S. President Joe Biden's Delaware beach house was raided by the Department of Justice for classified documents, his lawyer said Wednesday.

"We agreed to cooperate," Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, said in a statement, saying more information would be released after the search was concluded.

The Justice Department has previously searched the Democratic president's home in Wilmington, Delaware, and the office space he had used.

Classified documents have also been found in the homes of former Republican President Donald Trump and his former vice president, Mike Pence.

Biden has vowed to cooperate with the searches and Pence had said he takes responsibility for the found documents. Trump resisted efforts to return materials in his possession, prompting an FBI search of his Florida home and resort last year.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed two separate special counsels to review Trump and Biden's handling of such documents as both eye the 2024 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the National Archives has reportedly asked all former U.S. presidents and vice presidents to search their personal records for classified documents or other presidential material that should have been turned over when they left office.

It is unlawful to knowingly or willfully remove or retain classified material, although no current or former president or vice president has been charged with wrongdoing.

Former President Donald Trump, who is also under investigation over his handling of classified documents and whose Florida residence was searched by FBI agents in August, wrote on social media shortly after the findings: "When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified."

Unlike Biden, who has voluntarily cooperated with the Justice Department after about a dozen documents emerged, Trump repeatedly obstructed requests from the National Archives to return over 150 documents he was not authorized to have.

After months of fruitless government attempts to get back the documents, Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence was finally searched with a warrant. The searches of Biden's addresses have come voluntarily, without a warrant.